In many high school cafeterias across the country, plastic utensils are the norm. Oftentimes, when a student goes to get lunch at the cafeteria, they receive three separate plastic packages containing a fork, a knife, and a spoon. When Bluedot Institute student Juliet Falk conducted a research project at her school, she found that the majority of those utensils were being thrown away (and not recycled), many of them unused. Juliet proposes replacing those individually-wrapped plastic utensils with biodegradable sporks, essentially eliminating waste created by plastic utensils in high schools.
“I ran a survey of people in my school that other classmates and teachers filled out, which was used to gauge people’s level of involvement. Do you recycle? Do you think it would be beneficial if we had sporks? One question we asked was “do you know where the recycling bins are in the cafeteria?” Around seventy percent said that they didn’t. That was an eye-opener.”
Bluedot Living periodically showcases student work from the Bluedot Institute: a non-profit public benefit corporation dedicated to supporting students and their teachers in creating local, solution oriented projects that address the environment and climate change.